Can you survive only on meal replacement bars/shakes?

back
later,
growelling.

(when
my
computer
lets
me
type.)

I drink the Atkins Advantage. I am not on a diet but it tastes good and I will use it as a meal replacement when I am in a hurry.
I only like the Chocolate Delight Shake. It does come in a variety of flavors.

Have you ever tried to ONLY drink that shake as your entire daily caloric intake?

I guess what I'm looking for is something like a 'food pill' where all of my bodies needs are in this small, compact, simple pill or shake.

I lived off Boost drinks for a while. Meal replacement in a chocolate flavour!
Yum!
I'd take one of those over a milkshake nowadays.

I personally don't know, marporsche. Don't you enjoy eating?

I had been told to stop with the Boost every day. It was a temporary thing when I was having a lot of trouble getting food into my body. Then I got hooked. My appetite was zilch and it was easy.

Interesting question. My first instinct would be to think that any supplement eaten every day for every meal would be unhealthy. First: you'd have to supplement that with some form of fibre. Somehow.
Second: all those supplements and things like whey protein shakes etc have vitamins and minerals in them. Vitamins and such in tablet or supplement form are always harder for the body to use.

Interested...that's all I know.

I'm not sure, either, but I think that even if the body can survive this regimen, your teeth and gums need the exercise of chewing something.

maporsche
I must have misread your question "Can you survive only on meal replacement bars/shakes?"

When I made my post I didn't see the "only" part you wrote.
Sorry about the misunderstanding.

In answer to your question- No, I have not ever tried to drink a shake as my only source of calorie intake. I drink a shake only as a substitute but not on a regular basis. I have never heard of a pill or shake that can supply all
the nutrients the body needs.

I imagine you can survive on a lot of different kinds of strange diets. My question would be, Why would you want to?

I struggled yesterday with a non-spacer keyboard.

Back now to rail against this kind of regimen.

I've long term acquaintance with the low cal life routine, re that fellow from the biosphere whose name I always forget. He did a lot of research on a lot of this. Used to sit across from me in the biomed library and stare, for whatever reason. I suppose the table was convenient.

I also saved, years and years ago, some photograph of a few pellets on a plate, maybe a cover for newsweek or time, long time ago.


Your body slows metabolism when it notices (speaking anthropomorphically) it's deprived. This has consequences.

Lot of biochemistry involved in our metabolic rates/pathways.



Eh, eat well, and move about.

My concern would be for absorbtion. A manmade pill / shake / nutrient bar doesn't interact with the body in the same way as food, and even different foods interact with each other to affect how they are digested and used. Fiber can be added to the items you suggest, but I'm not sure that would be a stool you would want to deal with on a regular basis.

I'm not a nutritionist or anything close. My eating habits are atrocious. I just don't think we are to the point with manmade nutrition yet to rely on it completely. I also figure all the edible items on earth must be here for a reason. And, although I'm not a religious person, I like to think of chocolate as a little piece of heaven.

Swinney and I agree on chocolate.


Now, on my last post, an edit -

Your body slows metabolism when it notices (speaking anthropomorphically, but I've no doubt there are feedback/inhibition cycles) it's deprived. This has consequences.

On the guy in the library, Roy Walford.








Not to implicate him for lust for my nineteen year old self. Presumably we liked the same table, think of me as dust.
But to be honest, he wasn't a flirt. Just a stare-er, and quite possibly not AT me.

Interesting - I was beyond shy back then. Now I'd like to talk with him, and would at least try to.

A neighbor of ours went on one of those biospheres, not sure if no. 1 or 2, but knew Walford. My husband and I had other stuff going on and didn't pay that much attention.

bingo!

I know two people who enrolled in a medically supervised obesity plan that withheld all food beyond replacement shakes for a period of six weeks. After six weeks they were slowly reintroduced to solid food -- similar to the way babies are introduced to one food at a time. The idea is to retrain the body/brain from it's normal (presumably bad) eating habits and start over.

They both lost large amounts of weight. They had a difficult time reorienting to solid food but apparently did so because they both weigh as much, if not more, than they did before entering the plan.

I know it can be done in the short term and I know that feeding tubes are sometimes used for years on comatose patients, but again... why would you want to.

Thank you everyone for the responses.....

I guess the reason I'd be looking into something like this is because of my poor eating habits as they are today. I rarely can find time to cook a meal (I've only used my oven 3 times in the last year, all for frozen pizza). Up until 2 weeks ago (when I watched "Fast Food Nation") my nourishment came entirely from double cheeseburgers at Burger King, boneless chicken wings at KFC, and doritos. Eating well and complete meals is very time consuming and difficult.

I do not enjoy eating, never have. I've always considered it a waste of time and energy that could be better used elsewhere. That coupled with my poor, fast food lifestyle, I've craving something simple and healthy, complete with everything I need.

I know for a fact that I could adjust to a 'feeding tube' lifestyle (I like that term) if there was something out there that would meet these needs, taste isn't even important.

Also, I'm not necessarily talking about a 'low-calorie' diet. I'd still like to get my 2000 calories/day, but I want it in simple pill/shake/bar/feeding tube form.

I thought about that and I came up with sugarfree gum, which I chew pretty reguarly.

Also, this diet doesn't need to eliminate chewing. I'd be happy if the diet were 12 slim-fast bars / day or something along those lines as well.

Is there a Trader Joe's near you, maporsche?

Sure is...

Then you're in luck.

They have a million-zillion prepared meals that are way but WAY healthier than what you'd find at Burger King or KFC. Plus I found that they led me down the path of actual cooking. First I microwaved stuff, then I cooked stuff in the oven, then I stir-fried it in a skillet (just dump and stir), then I started buying separate items and putting them together (pasta, pasta sauce, sausage), then I started improvising from their ingredients... you get the idea.

You don't have to think that far down the line but I have definitely been there (eating as a utilitarian activity rather than finding it, or cooking, particularly interesting) and Trader Joe's was extremely useful. Cheap, too.